Fox as "Will O' The Wisp"

1905

Curious Belief That Is Prevalent Among the Japanese

Among the many superstitions of the Japanese there is none more strange or more universal than the belief in the power of the fox to do them harm, and many are the stories told of those against whom this power has been exercised.

The Japanese fox is a pretty creature about two feet long and of a tawny color, and is found nearly everywhere in Japan. The mischievous tricks which foxes are said to play upon the unwary are many, and wonderful are the tales told to awed groups of listeners by those who have been duped by them.

The designing fox usually takes the form of a fairy maiden in order to play tricks upon some unsuspecting wayfarer, and beckons him on until he falls into a ditch or is lost in the mountains. It is almost always at night that the fox goes out to deceive, and those who have met with such adventures say that the only way to know the difference between a real maiden and a fox lady is that the latter is clearly distinguishable, even on the darkest night, the stripes or patterns on her clothing being clearly visible even in the darkness.

It is usually to those who are carrying some article of food that the artful fox appears, with the design of obtaining the dainty, and those who have been through the experience say that a bewildered feeling takes possession of them and they are not able to exert their own wills.

Chinese Fond of Swallow's Nests

1896

Crocodile Steaks and Rats

Of all strange foods that men have ever used, the one that seems most singular to us is the bird's nest used by the Chinese. The edible nests are those of the Nicobar swallows, found in the cluster of islands of that name in the Bay of Bengal. These nests form one of the principal exports of the islands. They are held in the highest estimation by the Chinese, as an article of food, says the Boston Traveller.

In Siam the flesh of crocodiles is sold regularly in the markets as human food. They are eaten by the natives of Africa also. Herodotus says they are eaten by the Egyptians near Elephantine, though worshiped and their lives sacredly preserved by the inhabitants of other parts of Egypt. The alligators of North and South America were eaten by the aborigines, as they are still in some parts of these countries.

The general rule is that beasts of prey are not good for food, but there are striking exceptions to the rule, and, among others, the tiger is sometimes eaten in India.

There seems to be no really good reason why rats should not be eaten, and in the country where they originally belonged, China, they are commonly used for that purpose; as, indeed, in Paris, during the siege, people were often glad to sit down to a feast of this kind.

The fox, though an object of sport, is seldom thought of in connection with the table, yet it is sometimes eaten by Indians.

Fox Hunters Bag Deer

1911

Witty With The News

Three New Jersey "sportsmen" who went out for fox hunting are on trial for killing deer. Possibly New Jersey rabbits wear horns.

The Los Angeles man who was sent to jail for 30 days for smiling at a strange woman evidently does not see the point of the joke.

Automobiles to the number of 460,000 are flitting here and there in this country, but all their flitting does not reduce the cost of mules.

The average life of a statesman is said to be 71 years. This doesn't necessarily conflict with the old theory that the good die young.

Those Chicago crooks who stole a 600 pound safe in the dead of night evidently missed their calling. They should have been piano movers.

Reckless automobile driving is to be eliminated.

And now will not the Pullman company reduce the porter's tips.

Don't mind the pessimistic weather prophet's prediction of a long winter.

Fox Farming Proves Costly

1920

Pair Valued at $3,000 Escape; Trapper Kills One

GRASS VALLEY, Cal. — Fox farming in the Lake Tahoe region of the Sierras has proved a costly experiment and may end in failure.

Of three pair of silver-gray foxes brought from British Columbia early last winter to stock a farm projected there, two have escaped, one of them being killed recently by a trapper, and the other is at large.

The animals are said to be have cost $3,000 per pair at the place of purchase, and their pelts are valued at from $500 to $1,200.


To Exterminate Grasshoppers

To exterminate grasshoppers, a Wisconsin man has invented a device to be pushed across a field, the insects jumping against a policed metal surface from which they slide between rollers that crush them.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 2.